There was a significant development today when the Indian government blocked 54 apps, including Garena's popular multiplayer game, Free Fire. The sudden news was shocking to many, especially hard-core fans of the game.

https://twitter.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1493101075657756677

The App Store and Google Play removed Garena's BR shooter before the list of banned apps appeared online. The future of Free Fire MAX is uncertain in India, even though the app is still available on the Play Store at the time of writing. Garena's highly successful BR shooter was also unexpectedly banned, as it had been expected that the ban would target only Chinese applications.
The original and sequel games were developed by 111dots Studio, an indie game developer from South-East Asia. The publishers released its beta version in September 2017 and was well-received by mobile gamers.
In October 2021, Garena Free Fire was the world's most popular game on Google Play Store, according to a Sensor Tower report. It ranked tenth during the same month on Apple's App Store.
It was released globally in December 2017 after it received a positive reception for its fast-paced BR gameplay that was suitable for mobile phones. Over the past year, Garena's popular BR shooter has grown tenfold, quickly becoming one of the most popular mobile games in India.
In spite of being banned from the Apple App Store, Garena Free Fire and its enhanced version, Garena Free Fire Max, are still available for download on Google Play and users can still play the game on their smartphones.
In addition to being an online game developer and publisher company, Genera is also a subsidiary of Singapore's Sea Limited, which is run by Forrest Li (Chairman, CEO) and Gang Ye (Director and COO). China's Tencent owns an 18.7% stake in Sea Limited's Garena, as well as Bluehole (Krafton's subsidiary) and Timi Studios (developers of COD Mobile).
According to Garena International's official website, the company is based in Singapore. However, Garena International has not clarified why its name appears on a list of Chinese apps being banned by the government.
However , The government of India shed some light on this ban stating that - including 53 other apps in the ban list “This app allegedly obtains a variety of critical permissions and collects sensitive user data. These real-time data are being misused and transferred to servers in hostile countries."
Additionally, Garena Free Fire was banned following a lawsuit filed by PUBG developer Krafton against Apple, Garena, and Google. Krafton alleged that Garena copied its popular battle royale game.
While it remains arguable, it’s safe to say that no traces of Chinese origin have been found, What we do know that the game was eliminated for multiple objections, especially owing to “security reasons”.